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I think this is an incredibly underrated beer. Now, in my experience, it does have a somewhat subtle flavor that doesn't always come out. But when it does, it's amazingly toasty and scrumptious, sort of like some sort of pastry. It's hard to describe; it's unique.

Appearance  This one is a light, clear orange in color with a colossal head that was full and showed great retention. It looked like a beautiful white cloud hovering over an orange sky.

Smell  The light, pleasant grain is complimented with some soft, citrus hopping. The two go well together.

Taste  This is a pretty darn good American Amber Ale. The grain is unoffensive and actually quite nice. The hops are subdued in line with the malt flavors. Theres a caramel flavor throughout that mixes well with the citrus notes.

Mouthfeel  This one is medium-bodied and lightly carbonated. It finishes with a lingering bitterness that gives this ale a well-rounded mouthfeel.

Comments  This beer is so common in every supermarket and quickie mart that I knew it just had to be bad, but it was really pretty darn good.

One can gather a good account of this beer's qualities from other reviews so rather than be redundant I'd like to share a story, which I hope will show just how special this beer is.

I first had the Fat Tire in June of 1999 at a graduation party in Chicago. Around 8 O'clock that evening with some friends arrived with several dozen cases in the back of their dodge. It turned out that they had driven to some place in Missouri the night before to stock up on the brew for the occasion.

I immediately fell in love with the stuff and was disapointed to learn that it was unavailable anywhere in my area. I asked my "buddies" if they would sell me a case, and despite having literally hundreds of bottles of fat tire they all exclaimed no. That was just the beginning of my experiences with Fat Tire hoarders.

After moving to liberal Madison three years ago, I was happy to discover that many of the city's Yippie types keep a tire or two lying around for special occasions. Even these typically generous folks, however, wouldn't share much with me, "the fat tire's to prescious man. get you own man."

I put an end to that last month, though, when I picked up a good quantity of Tire in Colorado Springs on a road trip. Refusing to sucomb to the meiserly ways of those who introduced me to the beer, I have sworn to give it away freely and to any who appreciate a solid brew., although perhaps sometimes with a price.

Last week I made my friend Thomas, one of those yippie types that I was talking about earlier, clean my kitchen for a Tire. Despite the grime build up in the sink, and the rotten potato that was sprouting a virtual tree in the corner, Tom thanked me for the brew and offered to help paint my garge for a similar payment in the future.

To date, I can not think of single other beer that so many people will drive so far and go to such great lengths to obtain. Sometimes beers just have a quality that go beyond taste, and they are those beers that become the thing of legend.

Pours a copper color, fairly translucent, with a slightly off-white head, thick and fluffy looking, decent retention and a little bit of lacing. The smell is malts, malts, and malts all day. A tiny bit of a floral aroma can be picked up if you really force yourself to find it, but the malts are what smacks you in the face. The taste is quite nice - clearly lots of roasted malts, most heavily in the form of burnt caramel, toffee, and light, milk chocolate. This sweetness is counterbalanced by a subtle, yet apparent hop sting that jumps out about two-thirds of the way through. Slightly piney, the slight touch of bitterness at the tail end leaves your mouth in perfect harmony from the jumbo sweetness of the up-front malts. Medium body, medium to high carbonation, decent mouthfeel.

Very tasty amber ale, I'm glad New Belgium finally brought this product to Michigan. Easy to drink and enjoyable, plus it's relatively inexpensive and is being served at a lot of local places!

Medium color copper with not a lot of thickness. Head is not very thick. Tastes as a simple amber with a little bit of spices. Easy drinkability, could easily drink 6 pack or couple pitchers. Not super complex but if it's on tap worth a try. Best of beer from this brewery in my opinion.

Lets put it this way: before leaving Denver I managed to pack 28 New Belgium beers into my luggage to bring back to Jersey (no casualties), mostly Fat Tire. Compared to many of the exotics from Belgium and other American microbreweries Fat Tire really isnt that impressive, but it is a clean crisp refreshing ale that you can drink all day any day and never get sick of. The flavor isnt overpowering, just a light sweet combination of malt, spices and hops. One of my biggest torments in life is that NB isnt sold in New Jersey, and isnt likely to be any time soon. Those of you in the midwest - I dont think you appreciate how good of a daily drinker you have on hand.

A: A bright and clear, deep golden colored beer with a a cream and slightly rock off white head. Some light lacing left on the glass.

S: A biscuit malt aroma with a light hops notes that a bit floral and earthy. Mild fruit esters of light colored fruit.

T: A malt dominated beer with good biscuit like malt flavors, a little bready and a touch nutty. There are light hop flavors reminiscent of an English Bitters with an earthy, floral British hops character and a moderately-low hops bitterness. The balance is pretty even, leaning just slightly to the malt sweetness. The finish is off-dry with a light spicy and hops bitterness finishing quickly in the aftertaste.

M: The medium bodied beer with a medium-strong level of carbonation.

O: An easy, crowd pleasing beer with great balance, it's kind of got a lot of an English Bitters profile but made as an American Ale styled beer.

This beer produces a giant head that leaves walls of sticky, sheet-like lacing. Color is new-penny copper and aromas are light grassy hops and grain. Smell is very fresh.

This is a pretty simple beer, just toasted malt sweetness with spicy and grassy hop bitterness but damn I will never get tired of this long-time favorite. Its just the right balance of smoothness, flavor, light and dark tastes. Great stuff. Light mouthfel with low carbonation. I have consumed great quantities of this beer in the past, and one day hope to do so again.

I had a bottle over the weekend: It poured thin, with an amber color with virtually no head, but a little lacy foam resting on top. MY first impression based upon looks was that it's a fancy ale. Drink with your pinkie up! The aroma was a combination of citrus and hazelnut, and tasted the same. Tried as I might, I couldn't detect much more in terms of flavor.The flavor wasn't full bodied, however, and I found this beer kind of weak. Slight hoppiness, but nothing distinctive. The carbonation was very noticeable. It didn't get much sweetness, but did notice a crispness that remained throughout drinking it. I wouldn't rush to get another bottle, but I would be curious to see if it tastes different on draft.

I was checking out the inauguration on the TV at a local bar and decided to try this on-tap because the options were not so great.

A: Dark amber. Fluffy white half a finger head. retained a thin head and left some decent lacing. Carbonation was visible.

S: Some bready malt and earthy hops.

T: A bready, biscuity malt. Some caramel sweetness. The hops deliver a crisp finish. The taste was a let-down based on my experience with the bottles. Just seemed to lack spark and was a little watery.

M: Crisp, light body. Medium carbonation that suited it.

D: I had 2, so it was clearly a decent choice among the other beers on hand. I wouldn't go out of my way for it again. I'd rather have a bottle based on my experience.